 Eli Grimmett and Ty Goodman with Curly in AZ, 90 3/8 SCI I've heard many horror stories of guides and outfitters not following through with what they had promised their clients. I'm not sure if there's ever a way to know if what you're getting is the real deal until you've actually gotten it. A lot of times just visiting the outfitters website can give you a good idea if what they're selling is legit. You can look for repeat clients in the photos, press articles that may have been published, and references listed on their site. Sometimes you can even talk to the guides and outfitters on some of the hunting forums and ask friends you've met on the boards or just your friends you've had for years..... The reason I'm writing this is because I was browsing the web for outfitters and guides in Arizona to see what their sites looked like and to see if any decent antelope had been taken in the past couple years. Like most outfitter's websites, most of them had not been updated in quite some time, but one website caught my attention and is the reason for this blog entry.
If you look at Diamond Outfitters website on their photo page you'll find a picture of Ty Goodman with his Arizona pronghorn that he took in 2008. Absolutely nothing wrong with any of this except that Ty Goodman was our client in 2008 and hunted with me personally. He did not hunt with Diamond Outfitters and they were not involved in his hunt in any way. No credit is given to us in the caption of the photo or anywhere on the website. Diamond Outfitters may very well be a good service and I'm not in any way trying to demean their business. They may have unintentionally posted the photo or just forgotten to give credit where it's due. I don't know any of them personally and I've had no experience with them or their business. All I'm really trying to say is sometimes, no matter how hard you dig when trying to find a reputable outfitter, you still never know what you're really getting until you get it. |